Lies I have believed about the Fear of God (even up to this day!)

1. If you don't get it right, God won't bless you.
2. If you mess up, say the wrong thing, do the wrong thing, God will be disappointed in you and you'll be punished.
3. God will withhold from you if you mess up (even the little things)
4. God is mad at you, clearly you aren't getting it yet.
5. You should know better, you have followed God a long time. That's why this lesson is harder and He is expecting more out of you.... what you are doing is not enough.
6. Trying to fear God is not enough, I am trying my hardest to work out my salvation with fear and trembling, but it isn't enough.
7. I don't love God enough or well enough.
   

FEAR of God I get... but that's not what it really is. We are getting ready to get into spooky season.... what do you think of when you hear the word 'FEAR

"An unpleasant emotion cause by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain or a threat."
- Oxford

‍

"be afraid of (someone or something) as likely to be dangerous, painful, or threatening.
- Oxford

"Fear God, yes, but don't be afraid of Him."

-J.A. Spender

John Bevere's THE AWE OF GOD book:

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire. -Hebrews 12:28-29

Reverence: translated in Greek "Profound adoring awed and respect"

Godly fear: translated in Greek carries meaning of "AWE"... translated into English "fear, dread inspired by something great and terrific, to strike with fear and reverence. To inflated by fear, terror, or respect."

How do we cultivate AWE?

What are things we AWE at in today's world?

Job 38:4-41

Where were you when I established the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. 5 Who fixed its dimensions? Certainly you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? 6 What supports its foundations? Or who laid its cornerstone 7 while the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? 8 Who enclosed the sea behind doors when it burst from the womb, 9 when I made the clouds its garment and thick darkness its blanket, 10 when I determined its boundaries and put its bars and doors in place, 11 when I declared: “You may come this far, but no farther; your proud waves stop here”? 12 Have you ever in your life commanded the morning or assigned the dawn its place, 13 so it may seize the edges of the earth and shake the wicked out of it? 14 The earth is changed as clay is by a seal; its hills stand out like the folds of a garment. 15 Light is withheld from the wicked, and the arm raised in violence is broken. 16 Have you traveled to the sources of the sea or walked in the depths of the oceans? 17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Have you seen the gates of deep darkness? 18 Have you comprehended the extent of the earth? Tell Me, if you know all this. 19 Where is the road to the home of light? Do you know where darkness lives, 20 so you can lead it back to its border? Are you familiar with the paths to its home? 21 Don’t you know? You were already born; you have lived so long! 22 Have you entered the place where the snow is stored? Or have you seen the storehouses of hail, 23 which I hold in reserve for times of trouble, for the day of warfare and battle? 24 What road leads to the place where light is dispersed? Where is the source of the east wind that spreads across the earth? 25 Who cuts a channel for the flooding rain or clears the way for lightning, 26 to bring rain on an uninhabited land, on a desert with no human life, 27 to satisfy the parched wasteland and cause the grass to sprout? 28 Does the rain have a father? Who fathered the drops of dew? 29 Whose womb did the ice come from? Who gave birth to the frost of heaven 30 when water becomes as hard as stone, and the surface of the watery depths is frozen? 31 Can you fasten the chains of the Pleiades or loosen the belt of Orion? 32 Can you bring out the constellations in their season and lead the Bear and her cubs? 33 Do you know the laws of heaven? Can you impose its authority on earth? 34 Can you command the clouds so that a flood of water covers you? 35 Can you send out lightning bolts, and they go? Do they report to you: “Here we are”? 36 Who put wisdom in the heart or gave the mind understanding? 37 Who has the wisdom to number the clouds? Or who can tilt the water jars of heaven 38 when the dust hardens like cast metal and the clods of dirt stick together? 39 Can you hunt prey for a lioness or satisfy the appetite of young lions 40 when they crouch in their dens and lie in wait within their lairs? 41 Who provides the raven’s food when its young cry out to God and wander about for lack of food?

Job 39:1-4

Do you know when mountain goats give birth? Have you watched the deer in labor? 2 Can you count the months they are pregnant so you can know the time they give birth? 3 They crouch down to give birth to their young; they deliver their newborn. 4 Their offspring are healthy and grow up in the open field. They leave and do not return.
‍

Psalm 139:1-18

Lord, You have searched me and known me. 2 You know when I sit down and when I stand up; You understand my thoughts from far away. 3 You observe my travels and my rest; You are aware of all my ways. 4 Before a word is on my tongue, You know all about it, Lord. 5 You have encircled me; You have placed Your hand on me. 6 This extraordinary knowledge is beyond me. It is lofty; I am unable to reach it. 7 Where can I go to escape Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence? 8 If I go up to heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, You are there. 9 If I live at the eastern horizon or settle at the western limits, 10 even there Your hand will lead me; Your right hand will hold on to me. 11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me, and the light around me will be night”— 12 even the darkness is not dark to You. The night shines like the day; darkness and light are alike to You. 13 For it was You who created my inward parts; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I will praise You because I have been remarkably and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, and I know this very well. 15 My bones were not hidden from You when I was made in secret, when I was formed in the depths of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw me when I was formless; all my days were written in Your book and planned before a single one of them began. 17 God, how difficult Your thoughts are for me to comprehend; how vast their sum is! 18 If I counted them, they would outnumber the grains of sand; when I wake up, I am still with You.

Luke 10:38-42

38 While they were traveling, He entered a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. 39 She had a sister named Mary, who also sat at the Lord’s feet and was listening to what He said. 40 But Martha was distracted by her many tasks, and she came up and asked, “Lord, don’t You care that my sister has left me to serve alone? So tell her to give me a hand.” 41 The Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but one thing is necessary. Mary has made the right choice, and it will not be taken away from her.”
‍

John 12:1-5

12 Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany where Lazarus was, the one Jesus had raised from the dead. 2 So they gave a dinner for Him there; Martha was serving them, and Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with Him. 3 Then Mary took a pound of fragrant oil—pure and expensive nard—anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped His feet with her hair. So the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. 4 Then one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot (who was about to betray Him), said, 5 “Why wasn’t this fragrant oil sold for 300 denarii and given to the poor?”

1 John 4:18

18 There is no fear in love; instead, perfect love drives out fear,because fear involves punishment.  So the one who fears has not reached perfection in love. I challenge you that if you struggle with this view of God, it is a knowing you are loved issue not fear issue.

‍

PT made me write down :The Fear of God is not worldly fear, it is awe and wonder.

‍